Understanding Customers - How to tap into people's emotion and influence their choice

Hi Guys! Some while ago I found an article at Business Insider about people tendency to try something new, vs sticking with what's familiar. It addresses (one of ) the reason why people choose what they choose, including upon choosing what food to eat:

You Want What’s Familiar – A series of research studies by Marieke de Vries of Radboud University Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, shows that when people are sad or scared, they want what is familiar. When people are in a happy mood they are not as sensitive to what is familiar, and are willing to try something new and different.

Related to Fear of Loss — This craving of the familiar, and a preference for familiar brand is probably tied to our basic fear of loss. In de Vries's book, Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? I have a chapter on the fear of loss. When people are sad or scared, our old brain and our mid (emotional) brain are on alert. We have to protect ourselves. And a quick way to be safe is to go with what you know; what you are familiar with. A strong brand is familiar. A strong logo is familiar. So when we are sad or scared we will reach for a brand and logo we know.

It’s Easy to Change Someone’s Mood – It turns out it is remarkably easy to affect someone’s mood, especially in the short term (like long enough for them to make a purchase at a web site). In Marieke de Vries’s research they showed video clips of the Muppets (to instigate a good mood) vs. the movie Schindler’s list (to instigate a bad mood). People reported their mood as significantly elevated after the Muppets and significantly lowered after Schindler’s list. This mood change then affected their actions in the rest of the research study.

Related with food internationalization, I believe the article plays an important part in designing the food experience that would make someone new to try out Indonesian food -- or any other foreign cuisine -- which moves them further on the Food Experience Journey from Discovery into Onboarding stage.

Practically the article also gives a hint that people might give foreign food a try, if it looks like, or somewhat resemble familiar food they have already know.

Which reminds me of this recent encounter with a delicious sandwich from Chef Theodorus Immanuel at Vin+ Bali that looks like ordinary sandwich, but it actually contains something very traditional: A Balinese Ayam Betutu.

Unlike classical Ayam Betutu though, which its flavor spectrum leaning heavily toward savoriness and spiciness, the sandwich capped the heat, while also introduces mild acidity by using pickles, to gives off a "rounder" taste to the Ayam Betutu sandwich. The result is something that in a glance taste quite western, but with a kick of local taste.

For someone with Western upbringing, pairing the Ayam Betutu Sandwich with wine would even make the dish easier to accept, as it mimic the wine and dine culture. Creating a positive ambiance through comfortable room temperature, upbeat music, and uplifting fragrance would make the adoption journey even easier, and more pleasing.